Clean Your House For a £1 Missus! + Other Window Cleaning News

Found on the internet recently - any size house cleaned for 1 pound (£1)! Maybe a publicity campaign or just an illegal trying to make money rapidly, never the less, captured here for prosperity. What next? Free window cleaning? Found at "Gumtree" a UK service finder.

Indonesia's non-governmental organization for advocating migrant workers Migrant Care responds positively on the Malaysian government's decision issued on Wednesday, Sept. 2, which approves the weekly one day-off for Indonesian domestic workers working in Malaysia through the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Malaysian government also allows the domestic workers to keep their passports during their working period. "We appreciate [the decisions], however we expect these policies will be issued in a regulation to be legally abiding," said Migrant Care's executive director Anis Hidayah through a short message to VIVAnews on Thursday, Sept. 3.

Sandra calls for attitude change in Spalding's grotspot fight: Sandra White (pictured) enlists Matthew Kirk and John Hall into her clean-up campaign. A dedicated clean-up campaigner is calling for Spalding people to change their attitudes and "get off their backsides" to rid the town of its litter menace. Passionate pensioner Sandra White (67) spends several hours a day patrolling Pinchbeck Road and the rest of the town in a bid to battle grot spots. She also paid £70 of her own money to hire window cleaner David "Paddy" Dunham to clean the shelters at Spalding Bus Station but she feels other people in the town need to change their outlook and do their bit, too.
She said: "I do think people should get off their behinds – it's common sense but there is an attitude problem. People think that it is not their problem. "I think we have got it all wrong – shops and pubs should be responsible for what they put out. If it's a mess outside a shop then the council should charge them." Sandra shot to media stardom after appearing in the Spalding Guardian, making the national newspapers as a result, but has been disappointed that others have not taken up the clean-up crusade. She said: "Not one person has written in since to support me or even comment, so what's wrong with the public? "We are not getting anywhere and it's darn silly. We should all make an effort to get it right."
Sandra sympathises with South Holland District Council's street cleaning team and thinks it does a good job with limited resources, but says Spalding will struggle in its bid to win gold in the East Midlands in Bloom competition while there are weeds and litter around. She highlighted Winsover Road and Victoria Street car park as particular problems and often challenges people who she spots dropping litter because she feels so strongly about it. She added: "It is a daily battle but I am one step ahead and I do stand my ground with people."

Michael Shields freed after Jack Straw intervenes: Michael Shields left prison after more than four years today with a shy thumbs-up and a wide grin when he heard how his father had learned the longed-for news. The Liverpool window-cleaner was up a ladder when his mobile beeped and local councillor Jo Anderson told him: "We've won. Your son's been pardoned – he can come home this morning." Sitting next to the slight, crewcut Shields, who was jailed for the attempted murder of a barman in Bulgaria, Anderson told a celebration press conference on the city's waterfront: "It was a fantastic moment, but I wasn't really happy 'til I knew he'd got safely to the bottom of the ladder again." Other family members were up ladders of their own within minutes, fixing two huge banners – made four years ago and carefully stored – alongside the Michael Shields is Innocent slogan which has been slung on their terrace house in Wavertree since Shields was jailed in July 2005.

How does one become a 48-year-old rookie lifeguard? Steve Ayers is finishing the summer job he's always dreamed about, San Clemente lifeguard. It was March 28, when the ocean was about 58 degrees and Steve Ayers was one of 60 people standing near Tower 1 on San Clemente State Beach, wearing tiny bathing suits and waiting for the start of a 1,000-yard ocean swim. Ayers' fate in the race would go a long way to determining if he would or wouldn't get a cool job as a San Clemente lifeguard. Ayers, the would-be lifeguard, stood out for several reasons. The other racers were competitive high school or college swimmers. Ayers is, among other things, a commercial window washer. The other racers had time to burn – and train. Ayers had, and has, two kids and a wife and a business. The other racers had… youth. Most were in their late teens or early 20s. Ayers had… more youth; decades more. But, at 48, Ayers had something else going for him too – obsessive drive when it comes to physical fitness.
Ayers isn't in it for the $14.91 an hour. He says, in fact, that these last two weeks of working as a lifeguard are costing him money, keeping him away from his window-washing business. But Ayers says he wouldn't miss it. "Oh, I hope to do this for the rest of my life," he says, adding: "I don't know how long they'll let me."

"ABM`s is a remarkable story," said Slipsager. "From its founding in 1909 when Morris Rosenberg launched a one-man window washing business serving merchants on San Francisco`s Fillmore Street, recording a first-day profit of $3.50; today, 100 years later, ABM employs more than 100,000 people and has annual revenues exceeding $3.6 billion and operations serving thousands of customers across the United States. We are proud of our century-long heritage of service. The men and women of this company strive every day to achieve those same ideals of service to our customers and stakeholders in new ways. With Ted and Maryellen, and on behalf of ABM`s employees and shareholders, let us ring in the next 100 years of ABM`s remarkable story."

Climbing ladder of success: Rising singer and window cleaner – Jana Carine already knows a thing or two about climbing the ladder to success. During the day, the vocalist with Wanaka-based rockers "LATE eightyeight" runs her own window cleaning business. But she’s leaving her bucket and cloth behind when the band hits Dux de Lux on Saturday night. And with a dedicated manager now on board and debut single My Limit to promote, Carine says she hopes to one day give washing windows the flick and become a full-time muso instead. “That’s the dream, but the other side is we’d have to start making money fast,” she says. “It’s a nice idea to play music but to actually go somewhere with it is another story. “But our new manager has been great and has been getting us disciplined. She’s kicking us into gear and hooking us up with some really good gigs.”

FTSE-250 support services business Interserve has been awarded a £1.35m cleaning contract at Colworth Science Park by Goodman Property Services. Under the three-year deal, Interserve will deliver daily cleaning services, including waste management, washroom services and window cleaning. Over 700 scientists, technologists and legal professionals work at Colworth Science Park. Tony Sanders, managing director – commercial at Interserve, said: “We are delighted to be working with Goodman to deliver high quality support services to such impressive buildings. This contract serves testament to the skills and hard work of our staff.”

Whether you are new to facilities management, considering it as a possible career or widening your role from related areas such as cleaning, catering or security, BIFM is the place to start. Get the membership benefits of professional recognition, networking opportunities and access to knowledge resources in addition to many other advantages. Facilities management is one of the fastest growing professions in the UK. Facilities managers are responsible for many of the buildings and services which support businesses and other types of organisation.

Male-Female Occupational Death Gap Is 13 to 1: One other explanation for wage differentials could also be that men tend to work in higher-risk, less safe occupations, with a greater chance of injury or death (e.g. coal mining), at a higher rate than women, and are therefore compensated with higher wages for the greater exposure to risk (e.g. a window washer hanging off the top of the Sears tower washing windows outside 1,000 feet from the ground will make more than a window washer working inside the building.) For certain types of occupational deaths like "Contact with objects and equipment," the male-female gender death gap is even greater (41 to 1), and for "Fires and explosions" the gap is 24 to 1. Occupational deaths are probably concentrated in male-dominated industries like construction (90% male) and manufacturing (70% male), and are probably almost non-existent in female-dominated professions like education and health care (75% female) and government (57% female). Notice also in the chart below that the male-dominated industries have suffered from much higher unemployment rates (19.2% for construction and 12.6% for manufacturing, in May) compared to significantly below-average jobless rates for female-dominated industries (4.9% for education and health services and 3.1% for government).

Window Cleaning News

Window Cleaning Father and daughter killed in waterfall named: A father and this three-year-old daughter killed when they fell 50 feetdown a steep embankment and into a river were found in each other’s arms. James Gallacher and his little girl Sorraya were yesterday named as the pair who died in the tragic accident near Nantcol waterfall in Llanbedr, Harlech. Mr Gallacher, aged 35, and Sorraya, from Partington in Manchester, were on a camping holiday with his girlfriend, his sister Ellen and her boyfriend Jon Finch and their four-year-old son, at Shell Island, Mochras. Yesterday Mr Finch’s devastated sister Zena described what happened. She said: “They had all had a great day playing on the beach and were on their way to the shop to get some beers for when they got back to the camp site. “They saw the sign for the nature trail and thought they would have a look. They were following the path. Sorraya was picked up by her dad when he just slipped. “One minute he was there and the next he was gone.”
Ms Finch said her brother scrambled down the slope to the river but could not find the pair as the water was too deep. Two helicopters were scrambled and divers searched the river before the bodies were found under a rockshelf in a pool at the bottom of the waterfall around two hours later. Ms Finch said: “It was all really sudden. He banged his head and went under a rock. And when the rescuers found them, she was still in his arms.” She angrily dismissed speculation that window-cleaner Mr Gallacher had been larking around on the path above the river moments before the tragedy. “He would never have put his daughter in danger,” she said. “He was a strong swimmer and he was familiar with the outdoors. He had two children with him and he was not messing about. He would never have done that.” Yesterday a message of sympathy for the family came from Margaret Woodhouse, director of education and early years services at Trafford Council, Manchester. She said: “We have been notified of the tragic deaths of Soraya and her father in Wales and our sincere condolences and sympathy go to all their family and friends at this most tragic time in their lives.”
North West Wales coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones opened and adjourned an inquest into the deaths. Local divers Richard Workman, 30, and James Hordley, 21, who are cousins, assisted police and recovered the bodies. Mr Workman, who manages the Shell Island campsite, said: “I can’t imagine what the mother is going through.” A joint investigation into the inciden between police, Gwynedd council and the Health and Safety Executive was continuing last night.

Service supplier wins new contract to clean Argos stores: Interserve, the services, maintenance and building group, has announced that it has added to its portfolio of national retail support services contracts by signing a multi-million pound deal with leading high street retailer, Argos. The contract involves store cleaning, window cleaning, high level cleaning and warehouse cleaning at Argos’s 745 stores across the UK. Interserve states that it will transfer approximately 1500 staff under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment) following Argos’s decision to outsource its cleaning requirements to one supplier. This approach is intended to save the retailer money whilst improving service quality. Interserve reports that it will be working with Argos to improve the quality, sustainability and customer experience throughout the store estate.
Tony Sanders, Interserve commercial managing director, said: 'The retail sector is perhaps more competitive than ever and we are delighted to have secured Argos as one of our key accounts under a full national portfolio. 'We are also pleased to now become the preferred supplier for cleaning and associated services across the Home Retail Group. We now manage around 50 million square feet of retail space as our retail team and capability goes from strength to strength.' Will Jary, operational support manager at Argos said: 'We were impressed by Interserve’s proposal which demonstrates its great attention to both cost and service quality. Interserve has great experience in TUPE transfers and sustainability which also makes it a natural choice for this contract.' Interserve has highlighted its commitment to staff training and development through the creation of a cleaning apprenticeship in partnership with Asset Skills, the Sector Skills Council for facilities management and cleaning.

ABM Industries Inc. (ABM) is our insider buying stock of the week. ABM Industries Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides janitorial, parking, security, and engineering services for commercial, industrial, institutional, and retail facilities primarily in the United States. It operates in four segments: Janitorial, Parking, Security, and Engineering. The Janitorial segment provides floor cleaning and finishing, window washing, furniture polishing, and carpet cleaning and dusting, as well as other building cleaning services for customers in various facilities, including commercial office buildings, industrial facilities, financial institutions, retail stores, shopping centers, warehouses, airport terminals, health facilities and educational institutions, stadiums and arenas, and government buildings.

Saturn Apartments By Hisae Iwaoka (Rated ‘T’ for teens). A touching, character-rich vision of an intriguing new world. Far in the future, humankind has evacuated the Earth in order to preserve it. Humans now reside in a gigantic structure that forms a ring around the Earth, thirty-five kilometers up in the sky. The society of the ring is highly stratified: the higher the floor, the greater the status. Mitsu, the lowly son of a window washer, has just graduated junior high. When his father disappears and is assumed dead, Mitsu must take on his father’s occupation. As he struggles with the transition to working life, Mitsu’s job treats him to an outsider’s view into the various living-room dioramas of the Saturn Apartments.

A Tarentum man is accused of running over another man with an SUV and then trying to flee police early Saturday. The injured man, Robert R. Michel, 42, of Brackenridge Avenue, Brackenridge, was in critical condition uesterday in Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh. Police said Albert Davalos, 38, of West Seventh Avenue, Tarentum, is facing attempted homicide and a host of other charges. He was in the Allegheny County Jail yesterday in lieu of $250,000 bond. Police said the men argued inside Michel's bar, the Argonne Inn on Argonne Drive, before the confrontation happened outside. Davalos, who police said is a self-employed window washer, was arrested after a short but spectacular chase.
Harrison Police Chief Mike Klein said an officer arriving at about 1:05 a.m. saw an SUV speeding away from the bar. The officer gave chase about 40 yards up Argonne Drive to a sharp bend and then down a hill onto the short, narrow and winding Vermont Street. Along the way, the Ford Explorer that Davalos was driving was disabled after careening into a guardrail on the left side of the road. The SUV hit with enough force to break off a wheel at the axle, police said. The chase ended a short distance away along Mile Lock Lane, which intersects Vermont Street. Klein said Davalos was arrested without further incident. Allegheny County Police also are investigating. In addition to attempted homicide, Davalos is charged with drunken driving, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and fleeing or attempting to elude police, said Assistant County Police Superintendent James Morton.

Denver window washer Roger Schlenger stopped buying health insurance five years ago. His salary just couldn't keep up with rising cost of insurance. "Something had to go," he said Monday. "Whether it was my transportation, paying my insurance, food in my belly or not having roof over my head," he added. Schlenger is one of those hoping that Congress will move on a health care overhaul. His comments to 7NEWS came as President Barack Obama pushed back hard against Republican critics. "We can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care," Obama said after meeting with doctors, nurses and other health care workers at Children's National Medical Center. "Not this time. Not now. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake."

Ogden to forgo clean windows: It’s a dirty job, but at least for now, no one has to do it. The city will forgo window washing over the next year at the Municipal Building, reduce newspaper subscriptions and undertake other cost-saving measures to cope with a $2.2 million reduction in its general fund budget. The general fund has been reduced from about $51.1 million in fiscal 2009 to $49.9 million in the city’s fiscal 2010 budget largely because of a decrease in sales tax revenues, projected to reach only about $12.4 million. "There may be a continual slide in the economy (in fiscal 2010 that began July 10)," said John Arrington, the city’s finance manager. The city budgeted to receive about $15.2 million in sales tax this year but will likely get only about $12.7 million, he said. As a result, the city is implementing various money-saving strategies, said Mark Johnson, the municipality’s management services director. "We are being as frugal as we can in every area," he said. For example, the city will discontinue window-washing services at the Municipal Building for the next year, which should save about $1,500 to $2,000, Johnson said. The task may resume when the economy improves. "I don’t think we can go forever without washing windows," Johnson said.